Persona: Hollow Fate
by Sapphire585
Summary: Michi Nakano is new to town and left everything behind. Not that it bothered her. But would this new lifestyle change her? juggling family, friends, school, and shadow fighting, would she be able to adjust properly and finally fill the void that's left hollow all these years? Rated T for language.
1. Chapter 1: Hollow

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Persona series, Atlus does. If I did, I wouldn't be writing an original persona story right about now. I would just make a game of it right away.**

* * *

"Take care!"

"Have a safe trip!"

"We'll miss you!"

I have been told such empty words…

* * *

_'__Ugh, I feel like utter crap,"_

My eyes wandered to the car window beside the passenger's seat I was occupying and saw multiple buildings blur as we pass by them. The window showed my reflection ever so slightly; choppy auburn hair, and violet eyes and all. Outside there were people walking or chatting with each other. Even from a glance I could tell that every single one of them know each other.

"So, are you excited?" I heard from the person sitting next to me yet I didn't tear my eyes away from the window.

"Excited about what?"

"You know; new school, new home, new beginnings…"

"'New beginnings?'" I turned around to face my companion, an eyebrow raised at him. "Seriously, Dad, you don't have to be so corny about it."

My adoptive father, Akimitsu Nakano, merely laughed at my remark. Being in his mid-thirties, people would be shocked that he's my father. But back at our old home everyone knew that I was adopted so that rarely happened. "Well, aren't you cranky today?"

"Well, I did stay up late packing last night," I smiled at him.

"You could have asked for my help."

"It's all right. You were busy and had a lot more things to pack. Like those big-ass law books for example."

"You could have helped me, then," he chuckled and I joined him.

"Listen, why don't you sleep for a bit more? We still have a long way to go before reaching the town," I happily obliged after hearing that. I closed my eyes and blocked everything out. Soon enough, I was drifting off to sleep.

* * *

"Hello," my eyes slowly fluttered at the sound of a foreign voice. "And welcome to the Velvet Room."

I slowly raised my head and in front of me I saw an old man with a ridiculously long nose, elf-like ears, and bulging eyes. Beside him were a yellow eyed man who platinum blonde hair and was wearing what seemed to me like a blue conductor's uniform. It seemed fitting especially after looking around the place. The room looked like a blue themed train compartment; the couches were blue and so were the curtains. Anything other than that was either of the color black or silver. The only source of light was coming from a window. The room was dark and mysterious but oddly enough I didn't feel even the slightest bit frightened by the situation.

The old balding man spoke once more.

"My name is Igor," he said slowly as if trying to let me process everything. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

He then pointed to the other man standing near the door leading outside the compartment. "This is my assistant Matthias."

"It is truly wonderful meeting you," Matthias said with a curt nod.

"This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter," Igor explains. "It is a room that only those who are bound by a 'contract' may enter. It may be that such a fate awaits you in the near future. And I can tell that it is such an intriguing one."

_'__Contract? But I've never even signed one,'_ I thought to myself.

"Now then, why don't you introduce yourself?"

"Michi Nakano," I answered.

"I see…"

"Why am I here?" I asked trying to get to the point.

"You are here to fulfill something that has been failed to be done."

"Failed to be done?" I repeated obviously confused.

"We shall attend to the details another time," he completely ignored my question. "Until then, farewell."

* * *

"We're here," I heard my father say.

My eyes shot open and I noticed that the car finally stopped at the destination. _'That was such a weird dream…'_

I sat up straight and stretched my arms trying to wake myself up.

"Good morning sleepyhead," I turned to look at my dad and smiled. "Something the matter?"

It was no use trying to hide it. I'd be lying if I said that the dream didn't bother me even for a bit.

"It's nothing. Just had a weird dream is all," I told him as we both got out of the car to get some fresh air.

"Oh? What was it about?"

"I don't know, really. Something about fate and fulfilling something. It was weird."

"That is weird," he agreed. "Just don't let it get to you. Remember, they're just dreams."

"Dad, I'm not a kid anymore. Of course I know that."

"You'll always be 'my little girl' to me," he said laughing as he ruffled my hair. "Speaking of which, your birthday's in a few days. Any plans in mind?"

"Not really. Although going out to celebrate would be nice."

"Anything specific? It _is_ your sixteenth birthday after all."

"Meh."

"Good answer. Now why don't we bring all of our things in the new house before we bother anyone out here?"

We started helping the moving crew bring mountains of boxes into the house. It wasn't big but it wasn't small either. It was just right for two people. It matched the place as well. The town was big but it didn't have that much huge buildings like in the capital. It sort of looked humble for a big place.

Setting the final box down on the floor, my dad and I finally took a break and slumped on the couch.

"Why did we have to own so much crap…?" I complained.

"Even I don't know the answer to that myself. And watch that language."

"Come on, it wasn't that bad."

Ignoring what I had said, he stood up and stretched his arms in front of him. "All right then kiddo, let's start unpacking all of this crap."

I groaned at what I heard and plopped my face into the couch. "Seriously, can't we at least sleep for a bit? Besides, dad, you look like a zombie right now," I pointed a finger at him. "Also, you just said 'crap.'"

"I'm fine and you already slept in the car on the way here. Now get up, we'll just unpack half of these and finish the rest tomorrow."

"But what about school?"

"Nice try, but school doesn't start 'til Monday. That's half a week away."

"Fine…"

* * *

"Well that takes care of that."

I had finally finished unpacking all of my clothes and fixing my bed. I slumped down on my bed and looked around my new room. It wasn't big but it sort of felt empty despite having already put away all my things in the designated places. There was my bed, my desk, a small carpet, a violet bean bag chair, and a closet with a small book shelf attached to it. I had this feeling that no matter how many things I put in my room I would never be able to fill the void.

"'New beginnings,' huh?" I said to no one in particular. I thought of what my father had told me in the car: 'new beginning.' But what good will new beginnings be when everything somehow ends one way or another? Perhaps this time it would be different. Perhaps there wouldn't be any emptiness in the words.

A knock came from the other side of my door and my dad peaked in.

"Can I come in?"

"Well, your head's already through the door so, yeah, go right ahead," I answered. He went in my room and looked around.

"It seems like you're done packing," he said as he went to fix his short tousled brown hair. A few grey strands popping out here and there. "What's say you and I go out to eat? Bet you're hungry."

"Starving."

"All righty then. I heard there's this mall that serves amazing food at the food court."

"Is it far?"

"A few minutes by car."

"As long as we're not walking."

* * *

The car ride was short and it mostly consisted of conversations regarding plans after moving in while listening to dad's odd taste in music. Odd for me anyway.

We soon reached the mall and parked the car. The mall felt refreshing to say the least what with all the fountains and the open spaces. We went inside the first restaurant that caught our eye. It was a small restaurant that served beef bowls. My dad and I sort of had this agreement that if the restaurant was not that well known, it was a good place to eat. We were usually right most of the time. Usually… I was just glad that this was one of those times.

Dad called a waitress over so that we could order. she looked to be around my age. She had wavy shoulder length brown hair and was wearing an apron and a bandana over her hair

"Dad, I can't eat anymore," I said pushing the small sized bowl away from me.

"Come on, it's just a few more bites."

"But-"

"Hey what did I say about not finishing what you started?"

"It's just a beef bowl."

"What did I _say_ about not finishing what you started?" he repeated.

"It never does anything other than keep the work hanging," I sighed.

"Very good. Now finish your beef bowl."

"Dad, you're so weird…"

* * *

I finished the entire bowl after a few more bites and I could not have been fuller. The food was good but having to eat 'til you feel sick is pure torture.

Dad called the same waitress over for the bill. After that, we were about to go home but were stopped after someone tapped my shoulder.

"Um, excuse me, miss, you seemed to have left this at your table," she held out my handkerchief.

"Oh, thank you."

"Be more careful with your things next time," my dad said.

"Sorry. Thanks again," gave a small bow with a smile that felt forced. "But we really must get going now."

"Don't mention it," the waitress said and bowed as we were about to take our leave. "Please come again."

* * *

I stared at the ceiling of my now dark room trying to go to sleep. I couldn't help but think of the restaurant we ate at. Both of us were the same somehow; we watch people come and go not knowing when or if they will come back. 'Please come again,' it was like it was hoping that those people would come back to fill the empty spaces. The only difference is that I stopped hoping a long time ago.

And with those thoughts, I blocked everything out and drifted off to a blissful sleep.

* * *

**So I decided to make my own Persona fanfic. It's gonna be an original story though but I plan on adding a few characters from the previous Persona games as cameos or possibly a character with a big role. I'll also try to include some characters from the first two Persona games but I'm not sure how that's gonna work out since I know nothing about their stories. But I'll try to do some research. **

**Please tell me what you guys think :)**

**-Phire**


	2. Chapter 2: Thankful

**Hey! So here's chapter 2 :) Hope you enjoy it. **

**Disclaimer: I do no own the Persona series, Atlus does. I am a mere teenager who is waiting patiently for Persona Q which is also not mine**

* * *

"Good morning, class," my new homeroom teacher began. "My name, as some of you may have already known, is Kenji Tanaka. I will be your homeroom teacher for this school year."

Tanaka sensei looked like he was in his mid-twenties, possibly nearing his thirties, and had a mop of black hair. Like the other teachers, he was wearing a business suit making him look professional.

"Seeing as there are some new students here, why don't we all introduce ourselves to everyone?" and with that, the entire class 1-2 groaned.

"Sensei," a red-headed guy at the back called. "Why do the old students have to do it too? We hate introductions."

"Well, it wouldn't be fair if only the new students introduced themselves now, would it?" Tanaka sensei replied calmly. "They should get to know you guys as well."

"Who's 'them'? There's only one new student here and that's her," the same guy pointed at me.

"Rude much?" a girl with brown hair sitting two desks away from said. There was a boy sitting on the desk between them though I couldn't make much out of his face since he was resting his head in his arms, sound asleep. It was a miracle that he managed to fall asleep under all that ruckus.

"All right, you too, that's enough," our homeroom teacher tried to calm the bickering students down.

"I don't mind."

Everyone diverted their eyes from the two students who were arguing a while back and turned their focus on me. It made me feel really uneasy.

"I- I don't mind being the only one doing the introductions thing," I said while looking at the fists on my lap.

"If that's fine with you then, please," sensei gestured me to stand up from my seat with a smile.

"I'm Michi Nakano. I recently moved in from Iwatodai where my father adopted me, so… uh," I stuttered trying to find the right words to say. "I- I'll be in your care!" I then bowed very low.

"Thank you, Nakano-san, please sit down," sensei smile.

* * *

After surviving a day of school, I finished putting all my things in my bag and was about to go home to rest until…

"AAAAHH!" I flinched and searched for the source of the scream which was, apparently, right in front of me.

It was the girl who was bickering with the boy from this morning.

"Is something wrong…?" I asked her clearly concerned as to why she was suddenly screaming in my face.

"You're that girl that left the handkerchief!"

"T-the what?"

"From my family's restaurant!"

_'Oh.'_

"Oh, you're that waitress," I said dully. Honestly, I have no idea how to react in these sort of situations.

"You bet I was," she said cheerfully and stepped back with her brown wavy hair bouncing with her every, _energetic_, move. "Oh, that's right, I haven't properly introduced myself yet."

She suddenly took a few steps back and paused for a few seconds before putting a hand on her chest.

"My name is Midori Kitagawa, it's very nice to meet you," she said with a calm and gentle smile and a small polite bow.

It was such a quick change of character that I was left utterly speechless.

"Midori, stop scaring the transfer student," a male voice came from beside us, I turned around and saw the rude red-head walking to our direction. "Hey, you shouldn't get too close to her," he suddenly said to me.

"Tch, you're one to talk. If remember correctly, you were the one that was being rude this morning," Kitagawa-san said hotly.

"And how is that _scaring_ her exactly?"

As the two began to bicker again, I backed away slowly only to bump into a person who happened to be watching the entire time. I looked up to find the face of a male student with striking similarities to Kitagawa-san only with a more boyish appearance and shorter hair.

"Oh, uh, sorry," I turned around to give a small bow.

"It's all right," he smiled then looked at the two bickering students. "I'm Masaki Kitagawa." _'So they're siblings…"_

"Nakano Michi."

"They're always like that."

"Huh?"

"Those two; Midori and Kenta-kun. Just ought to let you know since you're stuck with us for a whole year."

"You seem to know them a lot," I smiled at him but in truth I was jealous. I found it pathetic that I was jealous of a guy who barely know.

"Haha, do I? Well I guess it's a given since Midori _is_ my sister after all. We're twins."

"What about Kenta-san?"

"The three of us have known each other since our elementary years. Even back then, those two were as lively as they are right now."

"Seems nice."

"It is. Now, if you'll excuse me," Masaki-san walked over to the two and put a hand on both their shoulders causing them to stop. Kenta-san and Midori-san both looked at him and Masaki-san just smiled at them. This went on for another minute or so until everyone felt really uncomfortable including me and I was just standing there watching them.

"W-well I guess it's about time for us to get going," Midori-san broke the silence.

"Y-yeah, me too," Kenta-san said.

"Midori-san then looked at me and said: "Do you wanna walk home with us?"

_'They seem nice. Also, Dad told me to socialize more,'_

"Sure, thanks."

* * *

The walk home was rather… chatty? Well, _they_ were chatty anyways. I would just nod and agree to whatever they were saying. They mostly gave me things to know about the town. The place was known for its many food joints where students always go to after school. There was also this town square where everyone hung out most of the time. Midori-san and Masaki-san both talked about how very little people have been going to their family's restaurant. Ever since the new café opened up in front of their spot they've been losing some customers.

"We used to have lots of customers too," Midori-san pouted. "I mean it wasn't that many like the big-shot restaurants but at least it was _something_."

"Don't worry, we can still manage," Masaki-san said.

"Yeah, I know. But it just makes me kind of sad that some of our customers left us for that café. It's like they didn't even bother to look back."

_'Tell me about it…"_

"I'm sure there are still some people who want to go back to your restaurant," I tried to comfort the twins.

"Yeah, I hope so," Masaki-san said with a smile.

"Don't jinx it."

"Shut up, Kenta-kun," Midori-san grumbled.

"Ah, this is my house," I said stopping in my tracks after noticing the familiar building.

"Seriously? We live just a few blocks away," Masaki-san told me.

"Haha, this is nice; we have a new neighbor!" His twin commented.

"Hey what about me?"

"You live, like, ten blocks away, Kenta. That's not near."

"Well, I guess I should be going now, thanks for walking with me here," I told them.

"No problem. Hey, want us to give you a tour around school tomorrow?" Midori-san suggested.

"Stop bothering her," their red-headed friend muttered a little too loudly. Though, Midori-san just ignored this.

"Yeah, that would be nice."

"All right! After school tomorrow, then."

"Yeah," I smiled.

"Anyways, we gotta get going. We'll see you tomorrow at school, bye!" she said cheerfully.

"Bye, thanks again," and just like that, they were gone.

Quickly, I went inside the house and took my shoes off. The house smelled of curry and rice. That could have only meant that Dad was cooking.

"I'm home!"

"Welcome home," Dad appeared in the hallway with an apron wrapped around him. "How was school?"

"It was okay, I guess."

"Who was that by the door? I thought I heard a girl's voice," _'Was she that loud?'_

"That was a classmate of mine. She, her twin, and her friend offered to walk home with me."

"Oh? Looks like you're finally making friends," Dad smiled at me and I smiled back, happy at the thought. But deep down, I knew what was going to happen.

"Yeah, they seem nice. Really energetic, though. But still."

"Invite them over sometimes."

"Dad, we only just met…" I said that but he just shrugged as if to say 'You never know.'

Dad probably knew about my problem of not having any long-term friends. I had friends, of course but every time either of us left, everything just ended right there. Back in the orphanage, I had many friends. But once they got adopted, they disappeared from my life. It was as if they had never existed in the first place. There was this one boy though who I was close friends with. We would always play together all the time. We would always tell each other stories and talk about what it would be like to finally have a real guardian. Everything was so peaceful back then. There were kids who would leave but he always stood by my side.

Until that day…

"Hey guess what!" he had run towards me with a gigantic smile plastered on his face.

"What?" he would only be this cheerful when something really amazing happened.

"A couple want to adopt me!"

That simple sentence broke my heart. He was going to leave. He was going to vanish. It seemed selfish but it didn't at that time. The only thing that was on my mind was 'why.'

"That's great…!" confused at my fake enthusiasm, he looked at me worriedly.

"What's wrong?"

Tears had fallen down my tiny face before I could opened my mouth to talk.

"D- Don't go…," I mustered out between small sobs. He had embraced me and told me something that was still fresh in my mind up until now.

"I'll always be here. Even when I'm away I'm here," he let go of the small me and looked into my face with full confidence. "I'll write to you! I'll tell you my address and you can come visit me!"

I never got the letter.

After he had gone to move in with his new parents, I waited. I waited and I waited. Every day I would sit on the stairway outside the orphanage expecting to see a mail man anytime soon. But nothing came. I gave up hope.

It wasn't until my dad adopted me that I felt happy again.

"Mi-chan?" I snapped out of my thoughts and noticed that my father was giving me a worried look. "Is something the matter?"

"N-no, it's nothing," I reassured him. "I was just remembering some things."

"Like what?"

"Midori-san, the girl earlier, is going to give me a tour of the school tomorrow at dismissal. So I might come home a bit late."

Dad looked skeptical about what I told him but then sighed and said: "All right. Want to help me prepare dinner? I think I might be burning the curry a little…"

I laughed at him and went to the kitchen to put on an apron.

I was grateful for him.

* * *

**This took me a while because of school and the fact that I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm just doing this for fun lol**

**Anyways, please tell me what you guys think and if you have comments on my writing, please tell me :) be nice though O.o**

**R****eviews would make me happy!**


	3. Chapter 3: Contract

**So this took a while but it was fun :) Couldn't write for a few says due to the super typhoon Glenda that payed the Philippines a visit. Everything was such a mess and we lost electricity :( Lots of people had to go to malls and cafes just to charge electronics lol it was funny to look at**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Persona series. Atlus does. If I did I would have made Chie x Yosuke canon (I'm sorry to the Chie x Souji/Yu fans out there)**

* * *

There I was standing in the middle of nowhere, fog engulfing everything in sight. How I got there I will never know. Just then, a mysterious voice spoke and with each word comes an echo.

_"__Do you have what it takes?" _the voice called.

Curious, I tried searching for the source of the voice which was difficult since I didn't know where to start searching. The voice seems to be everywhere; there was no source. All I could do was move forward hoping to find answers.

_"__Come, and show me what you're worth."_

"How can I when I don't even know where you are?" I muttered under my breath but the voice seemed to have heard me.

_"__I am wherever you want me to be."_

I didn't understand what he meant. Did it mean that if I want him to be in front of me, he would be there? Ignoring what he said, I continued moving forward into nothingness covered by the thick fog.

I walked and I walked, still there was no sign of anybody else in the place. I wanted to stop looking. Maybe the voice was just my mind playing games. What was the point of searching for something that possibly didn't exist?

_"__Is this really what you are only capable of?"_ the voice mocked filling me with anger. _"Pathetic."_

That was it.

"Listen, instead of comfortably sitting on your ass waiting for me to come find you, why don't you just come here yourself?!"

_"__Do you really wish to become like that other person?"_

"What other person!"

_"__If you truly wish to prove yourself, come find me."_

Fuming I continued to walk forward. I walked until my legs ached, until I was about to collapse. Still, I ignored the pain and moved on until I saw a light of a light-blue color. Slowly and painfully, moved closer to it until I could clearly see what it was.

It was a butterfly.

I reached out a hand as it fluttered in circles. But the moment my fingers were an inch away from it, the butterfly faded away and was replaced by a rectangular light. Ever so slowly, a picture began to form on the light. Dark colors filled it until became apparent that it was a card, and showed a picture of a man carrying what seemed to be a stick on his shoulder. Below it was the number zero. I was as confused as to what was going on that I didn't notice that the card was moving closer to me.

The card became bigger and more translucent. The blue light became brighter engulfing everything I saw including me. The last thing I heard was the same mysterious voice I kept hearing the whole time I was in the foggy place.

_"__You are ready."_

* * *

_Beep beep beep…_

I woke up with a start and pressed a button on my alarm clock to stop the annoying beeping. Groggily, stood up from my bed and went to the bathroom to get ready for school. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I turned on the faucet and proceeded to wash my face.

I thought about the dream I had. It was as weird as the other one; the one in the train compartment.

_'__What is up with these weird dreams?'_

After putting on my uniform, I walked down the stairs to find Dad in the kitchen cooking breakfast. The wonderful smell made me go down the stairs faster. Eager to eat and fill my hungry stomach I sat down on my usual seat but not without greeting my father.

"Morning, Dad."

"Morning, Mi-chan. Hungry?"

"Starving," I answered

Chuckling, he grabbed the frying pan with scrambled eggs and bacon on the side. It was a simple and typical breakfast just the way I liked it. After taking off his apron, Dad poured himself a cup of coffee and joined me at the table to eat as well. I looked at my father and saw that something was definitely bothering him.

"Listen," he began and I stopped eating. "There's been rumors going around town about people just suddenly disappearing. And I know you're staying at school for a little while today so -"

"I promise I'll be careful," I said with a reassuring smile.

"Just don't go home all alone, all right?" he said. "Ask a friend to walk with you."

"But we just moved in."

"What about that Midori girl?"

"We met just yesterday."

"Just promise me," Dad pleaded with worry in his eyes.

"I promise."

* * *

"I'm off!" I told Dad.

"Take care," he said while waving.

As soon as I stepped outside of the house, someone called my name with obvious cheerfulness in her voice. I turned around and saw Midori-san, her twin, and Kenta-san walking towards me.

"Good morning!" Midori-san said.

"Good morning," I replied.

"Wanna walk to school together?" Midori-san suggested.

"Sure."

"Great! I think it's best that all of us stick together. Everyone's been talking about the mysterious disappearances lately."

"My dad and I were just talking about that," I told them as the four of us took off for school.

The walk was rather chatty today as well. But this time I joined in the conversations more often which was good. I learned more about them. Midori-san was the energetic one, her twin, Masaki-san, was the calm and collected one, and Kenta-san was the laid-back one. But those were just from my observations so far.

As soon as we reached our classroom, we went to our respective seats. I put my bag down on my desk and I noticed that someone was occupying the seat next to mine, right beside the window. It was a boy with messy grey hair looking. He was looking outside the window while supporting his head with one hand as if he was either lost in thought or just didn't want to deal with another school day. But what was weird was that I didn't notice him the other day. Maybe he was absent?

"Yo!" the both of us turned our heads and saw Kenta-san. "So you finally came to school."

_'__So he _was_ absent.'_

"Yeah, I got caught up with family matters."

"Something wrong?"

"My little sister got sick so I had to look after her while our parents were out. They've been pretty busy these days."

"I see. Is she doing better now?" Kenta-san asked.

"Yeah, she's doing better," the boy said grateful for the concern.

The two boys stopped talking and looked at me. I didn't notice that I was staring at them during their conversation which immediately made my cheeks go red.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot. This is Michi Nakano," Kenta-san said gesturing to me. "Nakano, this is Kotarou Fujimaki.

"It's nice to meet you," I told the boy.

"Same," he said.

"Oh yeah, I haven't really introduced myself," Kenta-san said. "The name's Kenta Hayakawa."

Just then the bell rang and everyone went back to their own desks and sat down. Tanaka-sensei went inside with a couple of notebooks in hand looking tired but was still smiling nonetheless. It was sort of made me feel bad for him though.

* * *

School ended quickly and before we knew it, we were all preparing to go home after a boring day listening to the teachers talk. Midori-san walked up to me after she finished fixing her bag.

"So, ready for the tour?"

"Yeah. Um, Midori-san, is this going to take a while? I don't want to worry my father, you see. What with all the rumors about the disappearances…"

"Oh, don't you worry. The school's not that big so it'll just take a few minutes," she told me. "And you can stop adding 'san' at the end of my name if you want. We're friends now aren't we?"

"Friends?"

"You're too straight forward, Midori," Kenta-san walked up to us, his arms behind his head. Walking behind him was Masaki-san.

"Am I?" Midori-san asked.

"Yep."

"I don't mind," I said quietly and everyone looked at me. "I don't mind becoming friends if that's what you want."

She merely smiled at me and said: "You're really shy, aren't you? Can I call you Michi, then? If you don't mind, that is."

"Yeah," I said as a warm smile crept up my face.

"While, we're at it, just call me anything you're comfortable with," Masaki-sa-er, Kitagawa-kun said.

"Me too, as long as it's not embarrassing," Hayakawa-kun joined in.

"Well, isn't that nice," a voice said.

"Sensei!" Midori-san, I mean, Midori exclaimed.

_'__How long has Tanaka-sensei been standing there?'_

"I take it you're finally adjusting to this school?" Sensei asked me. "We don't usually have that much transfer students so I hope everyone's treating you well."

"They have," I said. "Everyone's been really nice."

"That's good. Speaking of which, what are you kids still doing here? The bell rang moments ago."

"We're gonna give Michi a tour of the school," Midori answered.

"Is that so? Well, make it quick. It's dangerous to stay out late these days."

"We will," Kenta-san reassured him.

"Just in case anything happens, come see me in the faculty room."

"No need, Sensei. We can handle ourselves," Masaki-san said.

"I don't think so. Remember, I've known you all since middle school."

"Come on, we weren't _that_ bad," Hayakawa-kun complained though one could tell that he was secretly agreeing with Sensei.

"Just remember, I'll be in the faculty room fixing some paper work when you need me."

"All right," and with that Tanaka-sensei left. "So, should we get going?" Midori suggested.

"The earlier, the better. Hey, Koutarou, wanna come with us? We're giving Nakano here a tour around the school," Hayakawa-kun called over to his friend who was sitting alone on his place beside the window.

"Yeah, sure," was his answer.

* * *

"And last but not the least, this is where we usually hang out," Midori lead us to an unused classroom on the top floor. She opened the door and went in while the rest of us followed suit.

"Man, I can't believe they still haven't used this room," Hayakawa-kun commented.

"I guess it's because of the lack of students this school has," Kitagawa-kun told the red-head.

"I have a question," I raised my hand. "This is a high school. So how come you all know so much about this place? We're only first years."

"Oh, that's because we've been coming here since our middle school days," Midori answered. "Well the three of us anyway. Kotarou-kun came into town just a year ago."

I almost forgot that he was there with us. I looked around for Fujimaki-san and found him behind an old desk, searching for something. Seconds later, he pulled out a piece of paper with writing on it.

"What are you looking for?"

"It's still here," he sounded relieved.

"Hey, isn't that our contract?" Midori suddenly peaked from behind us.

"So this is where it's been."

"Dude, I thought you said it was with you?!" Hayakawa-kun told Kitagawa-kun.

"Contract?" I asked feeling sort of left out.

"Yeah. When, Kenta-kun, my brother, and I entered middle school we started coming to this classroom a lot. We've been friends for a really long time now so I decided to make a contract for the three of us. It means that we'll never leave each other no matter what," she explained with a nostalgic look in her eyes.

"Then last year, Kotarou-kun came along," she continued. "And we soon became really close friends as well. And before you know it, he signed his name on this paper too. After that, none of us left each other's sides."

"It may not look like it but that piece of paper means a lot to us," Fujimaki-san smiled.

"To never leave each other's side… that must be a nice feeling."

"Huh?" Fujimaki-san looked at me confused.

"Oh, it's nothing. Don't mind me," I said quickly but I knew no one was buying it.

There was a short pause before Midori took the paper from Fujimaki-san and grabbed a pencil from her bag. She then turned to me with the contract in one hand, and the pencil on the other.

"If you want, you can write your name as well."

"C-can I?"

"Of course. We're friends now, aren't we?"

"Yeah, we are," I gratefully took the pencil and paper from Midori and wrote my name.

_'__Maybe things will be different this time,'_ I thought to myself.

"Okay, this is sort of touching and all but don't you guys think we should be heading home by now?"

"Oh crap, Kenta-kun, you're right!" Midori exclaimed.

"We should head home then. It's best not to make our families worry," her brother added.

* * *

The walk home was more comfortable than before, to say the least.

"Hey, I just noticed that all five of us live really close to each other," Hayakawa-kun said

"Again, you live _ten blocks away_," Midori argued but was ignored.

"In fact, Nakano and Kotarou live right across each other."

"Oh, so you're the newcomers then," Fujimaki-san said.

"Uh, yeah, that's us."

"Well, I hope you like this place despite the disappearances." _'How in the world am I supposed to reply to that?"_

"Speaking of which, didn't the disappearances stop for a short amount of time? I wonder what happened," Kitagawa-kun said.

"You're right…," his sister agreed,

"Well, whatever the cause, it's no use thinking too much about it. It's not like it would stop the disappearances or anything," Fujimaki-san told the twins.

* * *

After talking all the while walking, the five of us finally reached my house and Fujimaki's. Fujimaki-san and I stayed behind while the rest of them went on ahead.

"Well, it was nice meeting you, Nakano-san," Fujimaki-san reached out his hand.

"It was nice meeting you, too," I shook his hand and shortly after I felt slightly sick. Just then a mysterious voice spoke in my mind.

_"__The contract has been forged. Your journey begins here."_

The pain stopped and the first thing I saw when I looked up was Fujimaki-san's worried look.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I reassured him.

"All right. Maybe you're just tired. We _have_ been dragging you all around school the whole day…"

"Probably. I think I'll just rest for a bit. Thanks for your concern."

"No problem. I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Yeah, see you," after that he went inside his house.

"What was that…?" I thought out loud as soon as he left.

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter :) Please tell me what you think. **

**Reviews will make anyone happyyyyyy**

**EDIT: So I decided to correct a few mistakes in the first few chapters :) Special thanks to Sraosha for pointing them out and giving me tips! I really appreciate it :)**

**-Phire**


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